A
Billion-Dollar
Problem:
Recognizing and
Preventing Foodborne
Illness Outbreaks
by Kelly Bingham
T
2016 Issue 1 |
THE
SCORE
20
he Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that
every year, one out of six Americans — about 48
million people — gets sick from contaminated food or
beverages.
Foodborne illness is a serious public health issue, as well as a
giant economic burden. Acute foodborne illnesses are estimated
to cost the United States an estimated $152 billion annually in
health care, workplace and other economic losses, according to a
study by Pew Charitable Trusts.
Following last year’s widely reported outbreak of E. coli at
Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, the public was understandably concerned about food safety.
In a survey by Packaged Stats, three out of four Americans
(about 74 percent) felt quick service restaurants should do more
to monitor food safety or aren’t doing enough to address issues.
Forty-six percent of people said their concern about food safety
has increased.
With the recent media coverage of foodborne illness outbreaks
at various restaurants, it’s clear that excellent food safety is paramount to good business. The best offense is a good defense.
Food safety is not a new priority for Buffalo Wild Wings®.
The company employs a team of food safety staff at the corporate
level that is responsible for overseeing food safety throughout
the supply chain, as well as the execution of
standards and procedures at the corporate
restaurant level. The team has now begun
overseeing third-party food safety audit results
of franchise restaurants.
The process begins with sourcing quality
ingredients from suppliers. Vendors go through a rigorous review
before becoming suppliers for Buffalo Wild Wings and then
undergo annual evaluations for approval. They are evaluated on
a host of parameters, including how they produce their food,
previous recalls for products and warnings from the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA). All suppliers are required to have
a food safety audit that is recognized by the Global Food Safety
Initiative.
In addition, suppliers are monitored according to product
category. For example, ready-to-eat product suppliers must
undergo scrutiny of their processes to monitor pathogens, while
vendors supplying a mixed-spice product must share how they
segregate food allergens during production.
Food safety staff also perform on-site audits of multiple
Buffalo Wild Wings suppliers. Each supplier facility is assigned
a risk score. Products like raw meats will be inherently more
at-risk of foodborne pathogens than other products. Based on